Friendship is Futile
by DrinkReplenishment
Summary: Seven of Nine must learn about the importance of friendship, and Tuvok happens to know just the holoprogram to help her.
1. Chapter 1

Seven of Nine walked swiftly through the corridors of Voyager. Each step was precise and efficient. Even when other members of the Voyager crew were in the way, she adjusted quickly and minimized the lost time. She tried to be "polite" as she maneuvered around people but today all of her movements came off as slightly frustrated.

All she would have received for her behavior would have been a stern lecture by Captain Janeway but then the Doctor felt the need to offer a suggestion. She was somewhat puzzled by the idea of sensitivity training and was even more confused by the fact that Tuvok was to assist with her lessons. As a Vulcan, he should understand the unnecessary nature of emotions.

Arriving outside of Holodeck 2, she found Tuvok waiting for her.

"Seven of Nine, you are as punctual as ever. Are you prepared for your training?"

"Preparation is irrelevant. This exercise is a futile endeavor meant to punish me for alleged 'insensitivity'."

"Your comments made the Lieutenant leave the party crying."

"I honestly told her my beliefs about her promotion. Should I have kept silent when questioned?"

"It was a party celebrating said promotion. Perhaps a modicum of empathy would have been appropriate. While I suppress emotions, I am still sensitive the emotional state of those around me. This exercise should help to show you how empathy and kindness can lead to a better environment for yourself and for the crew."

Tuvok tapped a series of commands on the console to begin the program. As the doors opened, he gestured for Seven of Nine to enter. She moved in quickly with Tuvok close behind, so upset that she barely noticed the program around her. When she snapped out of her anger, she stopped suddenly and tried to take stock of the world around her.

Her ocular implant had difficulty with the environment she was being bombarded with. No planet she had ever visited had such vibrant color.

"I do not recall hearing of a program like this."

"That is because it was recently sent to us by Lieutenant Barclay. He personally recommended the land of Equestria for relaxation."

"This is a very strange place for you to teach me a lesson Commander."

"I will not be your guide in this exercise. My goal for the moment is to introduce you to your teacher. We should see her momentarily."

As soon as Tuvok finished his sentence, the arch that led back to Voyager dissolved and where it once stood was a small road with a creature gently trotting towards them.

Seven was struck with flashbacks of a life lived so long ago. Annika Hansen once held a childhood obsession with brightly colored animals. She would play with toys that had magical adventures traveling throughout the galaxy.

The purple unicorn that stopped in front of them looked like it came right out of the fantasies of young Annika.

"Seven of Nine, meet your guide, Twilight Sparkle."


	2. Chapter 2

"Nice to meet you Seven of Nine! Tuvok has told me all about your situation and I think that Ponyville is the perfect place to find help for you."

Twilight Sparkle extended a hoof toward Seven in greeting and Seven shook it with little enthusiasm. The former drone was still have issues processing the world she had entered. Tuvok couldn't seriously expect this to be a suitable simulation to teach her a lesson.

Twilight greeted Tuvok in a similar fashion. The Vulcan then turned to Seven.

"I will not be with you on your journey here. Should I be needed, I will be meditating with a pegasus named Fluttershy."

He gave a short nod and then headed out leaving Seven of Nine and Twilight Sparkle behind to study each other. Twilight broke the somewhat awkward silence.

"Well Seven, if you are ready, we can walk over to Ponyville and begin the tour!"

"I believe I am adequately prepared. I am eager to move this along."

Twilight smiled, "Oh, I get it, I find learning lots of fun too. Don't worry, you will get to see all sorts of cool and exciting stuff once we get into town."

She turned and began trotting towards Ponyville. Seven walked stiffly behind her. While she put on a brave attitude, she was slightly intimidated by the alien nature of this environment.

After following the road to the top of a hill, Seven could finally look upon their destination. This looked to be a rather primitive culture. There were very few obvious signs of technology, and yet some of the construction seemed more advanced than Seven would have thought them capable of. How could quadrupeds manage to build such tall homes?

Some of her answer came when a group of pegasi flew overhead. They appeared to be moving the clouds around in the sky using only their hooves. Another set of questions formed in Seven's mind.

Moving through town, Seven carefully watched the creatures around her. The Borg would normally have found little use for these ponies, but there was something about the way they interacted with their environment that hinted at a difference in the way they handled the laws of physics.

She deduced, from some quick observations, that there were at least three subsets of these ponies, and that each subset was likely equipped to handle certain tasks. It seemed an efficient division of labor but she could not discern if there were any traits that separated the "normal" ponies from the unicorns, aside from the obvious.

Seven managed to be so distracted by her analysis, she did not notice Twilight speaking to her until she had missed the context of the story being told.

"...and that was how I gained both a baby dragon and my apprenticeship to Princess Celestia! Just in time too. Welcome to my home Seven of Nine."

Before the pair stood a giant tree that was hollowed out and used as a dwelling as evidenced by the door and windows. Twilight opened the door and invited Seven to come in. There was just one problem though. Seven was just over a foot taller than the average pony and everything in town was proportioned with that in mind.

"Twilight Sparkle, I believe that your home is too small for me to enter without damaging it."

Twilight looked confused for a moment, but then brightened.

"Oops, sorry about that. I got so wrapped up in mentally triple checking my itinerary for today that I forgot something important. Silly me! Here you go."

Twilight closed her eyes and her horn glowed with purple light. The light then enveloped Seven and she felt a bit...different. Her Borg implants were certainly confused by what had happened but she could not identify the change. Twilight then waved her hoof for Seven to come inside.

"Just come on in. The spell I used will take a little getting used to, but it should let you travel through the town with no problems."

Warily, Seven stepped toward the open doorway. As she moved closer, the doorway seemed to get taller and taller. By the time she reached it, she easily cleared the entryway. Moving into the room, the room shrank slightly around her. Turning to look at the door, it had returned to a size that would not have accommodated her.

"Fascinating, the doorway appears to have modified itself to fit me. That level of dimensional transformation has been theorized, but I have never witnessed it."

"It wasn't the doorway, it was you! It's a spell I made after first contact with the Federation. It was too difficult to shrink or grow things to fit appropriately so I made a compromise spell. There is a bubble around you that just slightly shrinks you and also slightly grows things in a certain radius. The change is slight enough on both ends that it's easy to sustain and doesn't have the nasty side effects from too much one way or the other."

Seven was now thoroughly overwhelmed. It took a moment for her voice to find a place to start.

"You...you said spell. Are you implying that you used magic?"

"Of course, all unicorns can use magic. It's actually a extra special part of my own life both as Celestia's apprentice and as the holder of one of the Elements of Harmony."

Seven of Nine began to become very intrigued with the science of this world. Perhaps she could learn more about this alleged "magic". However, before she could inquire further, Twilight began to speak again.

"But anyway, we need to get back to the schedule. The first lesson starts here. It was in this library that I had my first party with my new Ponyville friends."

Her horn shimmered again and the room lit up with with phantom decorations and party guests.

"I was still fresh out of Canterlot and was so caught up in my work that I ignored the ponies who wanted to be my friends. It took a dangerous quest, fraught with traps and deceit, for me to understand how magical and important friendship could be. I knew that these ponies would stand with me in any crisis and I could always trust them to lend me a hoof when I needed it. Do you have anyone on Voyager like that?"

The illusory party faded away and Seven thought about being liberated from the Collective, the constant dangers that she had faced with the crew, and Captain Janeway and the Doctor's attempts to help integrate her with the crew.

"No, friendship is irrelevant. I function efficiently on the ship despite their eccentricities."

Twilight was slightly disappointed but was still resolute.

"I totally understand how you feel in this Seven. I was much like you at first. Hopefully the next stop on your visit will give you a new appreciation for your shipmates."

Twilight summoned a pack with her magic and moved to the exit.

"Next stop, Sweet Apple Acres!"


	3. Chapter 3

As interested as Seven was in the workings of this imaginary world, her annoyance was starting to outpace her curiosity. Twilight had been speaking through most of their trek to the orchard, but Seven had only given her a fraction of her attention. There were much more important tasks she could be performing. The Borg never had to deal with frivolous "exercises" in friendship and empathy, and they seemed to function quite well.

Finally, the strange pair crested the final hill to their destination. Even through her sour demeanor, Seven had to admit that the vibrant color palette of this world made for some beautiful sights.

Sweet Apple Acres swept the horizon with trees full of bright and gleaming apples. At the edge of the orchard nearest the barn, an orange pony, similar in size to Twilight, bucked her hind legs into the trees and managed to catch all of the falling apples into the surrounding buckets. Upon seeing Seven and Twilight, she trotted over to welcome her guests.

"Well howdy there Twilight, Twilight's friend! I'm Applejack."

"Applejack, this is Seven of Nine. Tuvok wanted me to show her around town and teach her some of the lessons I learned when I first came to town."

"Sounds like a lot of fun! I'm afraid we can't give you quite the same welcome that we gave to Twilight since most of the Apple family is out of town, but I'd be happy to share some of the things I've gotten from our adventures here. How's that sound?"

"Given that I do not have a choice in the matter, I will comply," Seven replied, her lack of enthusiasm quite clear.

"Right...well, where should I start? Ooh, how about I tell y'all about the time I tried to pull off the apple harvest by myself? I was determined to prove that I could take on any challenge without help, so, despite all the commitments I had, I tried to take this whole farm on because I didn't want to have to rely on others. Barely took a week before I was so tired that I ended up causing all sorts of calamities, and I had only gotten half of the apples harvested. I had been so stubborn. My friends were there to help me the whole time, but my pride kept getting in the way. When I finally accepted their help, it took barely any time at all. Having friends and being part of the community is not only fun, but it creates a network of people that you can rely on to help you, no matter what kind of mischief you get into."

Applejack glanced over to Twilight, who gave her an approving nod, and, then, turned back to Seven, hoping to hear her thoughts.  
Seven was, as usual, more than willing to share her input.

"If your society was efficiently run, your difficulties would only have caused a slight delay. Your desire to do the job alone would have been irrelevant as resources would be diverted to replace you the moment your work slowed. Friendship is merely a flawed solution to fix a flawed collective."

The last words were punctuated with a hint of superiority, and Applejack, not expecting the sudden rebuke, was a bit offended. Even Twilight was starting to be a little annoyed with Seven's stubbornness.

"Seven, I don't think that you are really opening yourself up to the idea that friendship could be good. Applejack and I are just trying to explain how it has enriched not only our lives, but also the lives of everyone in Ponyville. The crew of _Voyager_ are good people. Tuvok, despite his stoic Vulcanness, is a good friend and his bringing you here was an attempt to help you, not punish you."

The former drone's patience was at an end.

"This futile exercise is over. Computer, end program."

Other than confused looks from the two ponies, nothing changed.

"Computer, end program! Comply!"

The continued lack of response only fueled Seven's frustrations further. Tuvok must have set restrictions against her leaving prematurely. She would just have to find him and demand that she be allowed to exit.

Seven stormed off quickly, leaving the confused locals behind. Twilight started to canter after her, but a powerful hoof from Applejack blocked her path.

"Let her go, sugar-cube. Sometimes a pony just needs to have a minute to themselves and think things out. She might come around after a bit of alone time."

Twilight sighed, "I guess this is a lot to take in at once. I really hoped that I wouldn't overwhelm her, but I don't always get how humans work. Of course, I don't always know how ponies work either. Maybe I pushed a bit hard."

"Don't sweat it, Twi. Why don't you come in and have an apple or two while we think about it?"

As they trotted towards the farmhouse, they missed the blur of pink that seemed to be following Seven of Nine's trail...


End file.
